Camp-Fire and Cotton-Field eBook

Reaching Springfield, I found the army had passed
on in pursuit of Price, leaving only one brigade as
a garrison. The quartermaster of the Army of
the Southwest had his office in one of the principal
buildings, and was busily engaged in superintending
the forwarding of supplies to the front. Every
thing under his charge received his personal attention,
and there was no reason to suppose the army would
lack for subsistence, so long as he should remain to
supply its wants. Presenting him a letter of
introduction, I received a most cordial welcome.
I found him a modest and agreeable gentleman, whose
private excellence was only equaled by his energy
in the performance of his official duties.

This quartermaster was Captain Philip H. Sheridan.
The double bars that marked his rank at that time,
have since been exchanged for other insignia.
The reader is doubtless familiar with the important
part taken by this gallant officer, in the suppression
of the late Rebellion.

General Curtis had attempted to surround and capture
Price and his army, before they could escape from
Springfield. Captain Sheridan told me that General
Curtis surrounded the town on one side, leaving two
good roads at the other, by which the Rebels marched
out. Our advance from Lebanon was as rapid as
the circumstances would permit, but it was impossible
to keep the Rebels in ignorance of it, or detain them
against their will. One of the many efforts to
“bag” Price had resulted like all the
others. We closed with the utmost care every
part of the bag except the mouth; out of this he walked
by the simple use of his pedals. Operations like
those of Island Number Ten, Vicksburg, and Port Hudson,
were not then in vogue.

Price was in full retreat toward Arkansas, and our
army in hot pursuit. General Sigel, with two
full divisions, marched by a road parallel to the
line of Price’s retreat, and attempted to get
in his front at a point forty miles from Springfield.
His line of march was ten miles longer than the route
followed by the Rebels, and he did not succeed in
striking the main road until Price had passed.

I had the pleasure of going through General Price’s
head-quarters only two days after that officer abandoned
them. There was every evidence of a hasty departure.
I found, among other documents, the following order
for the evacuation of Springfield:—­

HEAD-QUARTERS MISSOURI STATE GUARD,
SPRINGFIELD, February 13, 1862.

The commanders of divisions will instanter, and without
the least delay, see that their entire commands are
ready for movement at a moment’s notice.

By order of Major-General S. Price.
H.H. Brand, A.A.G.

There was much of General Price’s private correspondence,
together with many official documents. Some of
these I secured, but destroyed them three weeks later,
at a moment when I expected to fall into the hands
of the enemy. One letter, which revealed the treatment
Union men were receiving in Arkansas, I forwarded
to The Herald. I reproduce its material
portions:—­